


I'll Be Watching You

by ObeyDontStray



Category: Stranger Things - Fandom
Genre: Death, F/M, Friendship, Grief, Grieving, Mourning, relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-01
Updated: 2017-11-01
Packaged: 2019-01-27 20:20:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12589812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObeyDontStray/pseuds/ObeyDontStray
Summary: Joyce and Hopper shared a cigarette at the Snow Ball, but what if they shared a bit more?





	I'll Be Watching You

The hug is close and warm and familiar and her eyes are closed as the first bars of 'Every Step You Take' begins. He flicks the cigarette butt to the ground, tamps it out with his boot. 

And then he was swaying. Mostly where their upper bodies leaned against each other but she could feel a slight sway to his hips.

Then he took a half step away from the car and pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her upper body. And he was so warm, so close, so familiar. 

She lay against his chest as he lead her to sway gently, his feet guiding them. Not quite a dance, more of a swaying hug. Her hands eased around his middle, grasping at the material of his clothes at his back.

Strong and solid. An anchor in the sea of grief. 

She felt his lips in her hair, a brush of his nose and cheek as he held her close. 

And he didn't flinch when her tears wet his shirt. "Shhh, shh." He soothed. "I know it hurts." 

"I feel so guilty. Everything I do. Everything he should be doing. That should have been me." 

"That couldn't be you. He knew that. He saved you, Joyce. He saved all of us." He reached up to cup her cheek, to hold her steady against his chest as they continued to make slow, sloppy circles in the school parking lot. "He wouldn't want you to be miserable."

"I'm pretty sure he wouldn't wanna look back and see this." She explained, pushing Hop away. 

He stepped back, his hands shaking, and leaned against the car. 

"I just know you're sad. And I've been there. And I can't stand to see you hurt so badly."

Joyce wanted to scream, to cry, to throw her fists at him, to crumple. To hold him close, to sink into his arms, to kiss him senseless till they both forgot her grief. The rush of emotions made her dizzy so she stayed put, hands fisted in her pockets while fat tears rolled down her cheeks. 

"I'll go." 

He's got that wounded edge in his voice. His eyes are unreadable in the dark but she can imagine what she'd see there. That intense, narrowed blue gaze. 

She had wounded him. 

"Jim, no. I'm-I'm sorry." She sputtered. "Don't leave me, please." 

She had managed to keep most of this bottled up. Stuffed it all down in a mental box, crammed a lid on it. But she kept tripping over it every day. And today, well today the box was overflowing. Jim had managed to break her composure. 

His face was dark but his jaw had softened, his entire expression softened. 

"I'm sorry. I just don't know how I feel." She said, sinking back into his chest and wrapping her arms around his middle again. The only thing that remotely felt right in her sea of troubles. Even with the guilt. Hopper's chest was strong and solid, and his arms were enveloping as he held her. 

Jim Hopper had watched her through every stage of her life. She knew he'd watch her through this one, too.


End file.
